Black Round Metal Spike Candle Holder Pillar Candle Plate

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There is a single example on the database of what may be an ‘hour-glass’ Roman candle-holder, DENO-E13701. Early-medieval candle-holders Most medieval candle-holders recorded on the PAS database – whether of sheet or cast metal – are made from several components which tend to come apart, so it is important to be able to recognise fragments. Most are made from copper alloy; a few are of lead alloy, but this does not tend to survive well in ploughsoil. With circular or triangular tripod base

Examples of candle-holders with a triangular tripod base include NMS-DC4BF7. Examples of those with a circular tripod base include LON-6C500D (a lead-alloy example with a religious inscription) and PUBLIC-C37065 (which is thought to be a French import, following Egan 1998, 149-50). Two circular tripod candle-holders (left, KENT-28DF24; right, LON-6C500D). Note the wide aperture on KENT-28DF24. Good images of a triangular tripod candle-holder proved hard to find. Zoomorphic (including the Geraardsbergen type)For toy candle-holders, use TOY (and put ‘candle holder’ in the classification field). PAS object classifications to use There are also some less complex examples of adjustable candle-holders, such as the two below, one of which is still movable. The hinge must have been quite tight to stop the candle-holder collapsing while in use. Saucer-type candle-holders were certainly in use in the 17th century, when they had flat projecting handles like little frying pans; we do not have any of this type yet identified on the PAS database, but there is a mid 18th century illustration of one in the British Museum. Bangs suggests that the trefoil type of ejector dates from the second half of the 17th century onwards ( Bangs 1995, 145-146, 326; no. 121) but they seem to have become more common in the 18th century. Ejector handles from late 17th- or 18th-century candle-holders, all of openwork trefoil type except for one. From left: DOR-F8C076, NLM-074D4A, BH-C623B4, SUSS-AA9D95, WMID-6FAB26. Toy candle-holders

Medieval candle-holders come in several highly standardised forms. Unfortunately there are a lot of folding or collapsible candle-holders, and several which have a tripod foot, and more than one zoomorphic type. It is therefore useful to have standard terms in the Classification field for the commoner types. When Alfred and his father Æthelwulf travelled to Rome in the 850s, among their gifts to the Pope was “a gilded silver candle-holder in the Saxon style”. So early-medieval candle-holders did apparently exist, but we don’t have any yet recorded on the PAS database. Perhaps they were all as large as this one in Essen Cathedral, made c. 1000 AD. Medieval candle-holders There is a complete example of one of these candle-holders in the Victoria and Albert Museum ( acc. no. M.355-1956), and a pair in the Metropolitan Museum, New York ( acc. no. 32.100.285-6; published in Boehm and Taburet-Delahaye 1996, no. 134). They are dated to c. 1280-1320 AD and 1290-1310 AD respectively. AdjustableOne was found in a 16th-century context in London ( Egan 2005, 81, no. 337) and another in a pit with early 16th century pottery in Winchester ( Rees et al 2008, no. 1799). Two Norwich finds came from the levels of the 1507 fire ( Margeson 1993, 83-4, nos. 537-8), so a date-range of 1450-1550 seems appropriate. Candle-holders of Bunsen burner type. From left: SOM-619B4B, DEV-AF2114, SWYOR-EC45A9, SF-3DBCE5, LVPL-417C75 (cast in one piece). 16th- or 17th-century candle-holders There are two main types of tripod candle-holder with folding or collapsible legs. The first has a slender cast shaft decorated with knops with cast cross-hatched grooves, and ending in three pierced lugs. The lugs would originally have had three hinged legs attached to them, which could be folded up for storage or travelling, or unfolded for use. Use ‘folding’ in the Classification field. Some ejector handles can be oval, sometimes inscribed with initials. Others are simple knobs, which can be hard to recognise. The most recognisable ones, and the commonest on the PAS database, have an openwork trefoil of three circular loops. There are several lead-alloy toy candle-holders in the Museum of London, catalogued in Forsyth and Egan 2005, 181-3. The earliest date to the 17th century, although Forsyth and Egan suggest that there may be occasional earlier examples. The bases are generally 24-40mm in diameter and the candle-holders 40-60mm tall.

Two simple adjustable candle-holders. Left, DOR-11C892; right, WILT-21F000. Late medieval or early post-medieval candle-holders This guide only covers metal candle-holders; details of how to record ceramic candle-holders can be found in the guide to Ceramics.Adjustable candle-holders are flimsy and small, and are made from several pieces. When recording one, put ‘adjustable’ in the Classification field. Many of the candle-holders recorded on the PAS database are small, flimsy objects which were probably used for travelling, and thus have become accidentally lost. Zoomorphic copper-alloy candle-holders are come in two variants. One is quite naturalistic, but the other (the Geraardsbergen type) is a tripod form where the three legs are formed into the shapes of animal heads and front legs. Ward Perkins (1940, 180-1) traces a convincing evolution of the everyday table-top cast copper-alloy candle-holder, from those with a triangular base and three small feet, to a circular base with three small feet, to the simple circular form current around 1500 AD (see below for this).